The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - AlbCo Commercial Tax Down From 15% (2015) To 11% ('25); AlbCo Population 105K In 2017, 117K+ In 2024

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: AlbCo Commercial Tax Down From 15% (2015) To 11% (’25) AlbCo Population 105K In 2017, 117K+ In 2024 Eli Lilly $5B Goochland HQ Will Generate 650 Jobs AstraZeneca Building New HQ In Albemarle County Life Sciences Generated $269M In AlbCo In 2024 FSU (-6.5) At UVA, 7PM, Friday, National TV ESPN Ready To Invest In F&B or Experiential Biz (DM Me) Exec Offices For Rent ($350 – $2600), Contact Jerry Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the I Love Seville Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us. Thursday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville in our building, the Macklin building, our studio at storefront level, we like to say we're right in the heartbeat of the region. I mean, we're at storefront level next to the police department, across from Court Square, a block off the downtown mall, right next to the finance firms and the hedge funds. Two blocks, you think, from City Hall, J-Dubbs?

Two blocks from City Hall? Yeah, give or take. Literally the heartbeat. And there's few things I like, ladies and gentlemen, then from my vantage point here, just watching the world go by in downtown Charleston. we see folks from all walks of life from the clapping man the houseless guy that's the clapping man

that's clapping hysterically while walking down the downtown mall to the guy that's carrying the cane or the staff while walking down the downtown mall to the guy slamming the bucket looking for donations for making music while banging a low's bucket while people are trying to enjoy a $100 meal in downtown Charlottesville,

all walks of life to the C-suite, the judges, the bankers, the lawyers. We just have our little perch, and we like to talk about it, what we see on the program. Today's show embodies those qualities. I'm going to ask you some important questions, folks. Explain to me, and I'll ask you to this question, why the commercial tax base in Alamaro County has dropped, ladies and gentlemen, from 15% of Alamoire County's tax base in 2015 to just 11% in 2025.

And explain to me how that happens when Alamoire County's population upticks from 105,000 people in 2017 to 117,000 plus people today. How does the commercial tax base have such a sizable downward trend when the humans, the body count living in Almara County has uptick? And what's the burden that places on you and I? The homes we own, the apartments, condos, and houses we lease. We'll unpack that conversation today on

The Water Cooler of Conversation and content in Charlesville and Central Virginia, the I Love Seaville Show. We'll talk on today's program. We're starting to get some tangible numbers, folks. And Eli Lilly, the publicly traded biotechnology company, has said, look, we're going to spend $5 billion, $5 billion with the B, building a headquarters and a facility in Goochland County. And this headquarters is, boy, oh boy, going to create a lot of jobs, ladies and gentlemen. 600 and 50 new jobs. Remember, AstraZeneca is also building a multi-billion dollar facility in the area. Another biotechnology publicly traded company,

they're going to spend at least what Eli Lilly is doing, but they're going to do theirs in Amarral County. So at the same time, a couple of projects coming online while the Paul Manning Biotech Institute on Fontaine's, you know, being birthed. astrozenica you've got to think hundreds of new jobs maybe 650 just like eli lily we'll unpack that on today's show we got some data points from almore county the life sciences category think biotechnology almore county calls it life sciences the life sciences category generated 269 million in revenue for almore county in 2024 269 million boy oh boy is that number going to uptick

Judah, with this Paul Manning Institute and Astrosetica and Eli Lilly coming online. You already got the executive director of the Paul Manning Biotech Institute. He used to be a vice president at Astrozenica, and he's already literally using his megaphone and his platform, the credibility that goes with the executive director title, saying there's going to be a boatload of new businesses that are riding the supply chain and the coattails of what we're doing here, and they're going to call this area home. So today's program is this like this this Venn diagram, this dynamic of tax base and incremental revenue and job creation and this coveted community we live within called

Almaro County where people want to move to and they want to invest billions of dollars and create new jobs because they see what we see, quality of life, places to raise kids, to start businesses, to have generational impacts. We'll talk about that on today's program. Goodness gracious, I have to highlight tomorrow's football game, don't I? Florida State hits Scott Stadium. That line holding steady right now at six and a half. Remember on Monday, Florida State was a seven and a half point favorite.

It's six and a half right now. So the betting public sees a real close ball game here, folks. You've got the Seminoles, a top 10 team in the nation, against an upstart UVA team that's got one of the most prolific offenses in, not just the country, not just the conference, but the country, folks. This is as significant a football game we've seen in Scott Stadium, and goodness gracious, a generation, maybe more? We'll talk about that on today's program.

We'll highlight your comments on today's program. We love to welcome new partner Oak Valley Custom Hardscapes to the show, Judah. Oak Valley Custom Hardscapes, these, this is a, talented firm. Custom Hartscapes, outdoor living spaces. Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes offers custom design to fit any

landscape and purpose. No matter how complex your hardship installation may be, Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes can deliver a beautiful custom outdoor living space for you to enjoy. Oak Valley Custom Hardscapes has a beautiful office on the downtown mall

in the former Wells Fargo building at storefront level in downtown Charlottesville. We help them find that office space. And this company, Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes, is going to penetrate this Charlottesville in Amar County and Central Virginia Market with talented, trustworthy craftsmanship.

Oak Valley Custom Hartscapes. Judah Wickcower, studio camera, please. My friend, I would love to weave you in on a two-shot and I can't say how much I enjoy sitting next to you. We don't always agree. we often disagree I love to verbally spar sometimes I don't think you do but I certainly do

but when it's all said and done we talk about a community we love and every day we talk content for this show you're valued and trusted opinion you heard it this morning with the folks that were in our studio which storyline today most intrigues you and why I guess I've got to go with the decline in commercial tax in Almarl.

That's pretty stark, 15% to 11% in the last 10 years. And as you mentioned, we've got a increasing population. So it's curious that we're, you know, more people, less commercial going. on. That could be a problem. I mean, we're, as we've been talking about recently, Charlottesville is looking to potentially raise taxes yet again. And could we see the same thing coming from Albemarle County soon? I had a conversation via this show and the network with Don Gathers, a noteworthy activist in Charlottes. Don Gathers has joined us on the I Love Seville show in the passed twice. Don Gathers in the comment section of this show on Tuesday, and he spoke against

the houseless and homeless ordinance that was recently presented before city council. And I'm paraphrasing his words, but I think Don Gathers would agree with what I have to say. He called the homeless ordinance that Chief Cottes presented to counsel on behalf of counsel. Council asked him to do this. He called that homeless ordinance deplorable. Disgusting, downright, demoralizing to human well-being. I'm paraphrasing Don's words a little bit. And Don said that this city council in the comment section was nothing like the city council led by Nakaya Walker,

who, goodness gracious, took Charlottesville to a deep, dark place. Nikaya Walker did. A deep, dark place, her leadership. He said, it's nothing like it. And to a certain extent, I agree with Don Gathers, the activist, that it's not the headline capturing leadership, where Nekiah Walker used rape allegory poetry for her comparison of the city,

where constantly there was beefs and brouhaz and council chambers, where she was linked to credit card payments on a city credit card, compensating speakers who spoke before counsel in the public portion, she was linked to that. It may not be the headline capturing of the Kyah Walker era, but it's certainly one that has offered questionable leadership tendency. And I've let you know on this platform that you should expect your real estate taxes in the city to uptick.

We've based that on sales tax collections being down, meals tax collections being down, values of homes being down. We've based that on tourism traffic down. A number of key performance indicators suggests the city if it wants to operate under its current budget, its current budget limitations or its current budgetary levels, is going to have to raise taxes somewhere. and we know the city likes to spend more. So I respectfully, respectfully push back on Mr. Gathers and said, you know, I agree with you while it's not the headline capturing, like the Nakaya Walker era,

it's certainly one that has commonalities with leadership and policy decision-making and leaving the city in a questionable position. And I look at what's happening in Amaralm County and I'm going to weave you in. I know you want to make a point. I'm going to weave you in here. In Al Morrow County, over a 10-year period, the commercial base, according to the Al Morrow County Executive, Jeff Richardson, has fallen from 11% in 2015, Judah, no, 15% in 2015 to 11% in 2025. The commercial base has dropped four points in a 10-year period of time. Jeff Richardson said, when we look at our peer jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, you'd like to see an 80-20 split.

20% of the tax base tied to the commercial sector, 80% of the tax base tied to the residential sector. Taxes on rooftops, the homes we own, right? Almaro County's got 89% of the tax base that funds the yearly budget tied to the homes we own. And goodness gracious, if you're leasing a home, if you're a tenant, you're paying the taxes, folks. Don't think just because you're paying monthly rent instead of a monthly mortgage that this doesn't impact you. I'm a landlord, 24 doors in our portfolio. Tax is paid by tenants. Pass down to tenants. 5% escalator, triple net lease, whatever you want to call it. Tenets are paying the taxes. So in Almaro County, our tax base is split with 89% on homes, on rooftops, residential rooftops, 11% in the commercial corridor.

peer jurisdictions, comparables, comps, and the commonwealth suggest that split should be 80, 20 for a healthy budget. Ten years ago, Al Morrow County, that split was, what, 8515 residential to commercial. So it's worsened, which means you and I have less money in our pockets because it's being taken from us by the jurisdiction where we live. I want to ask you the viewer and listener to this question, and I think it's a reasonable question. I think it's content and conversation for your cocktail and charcutory party this weekend. If the population, Judah, if the population has uptick from 2015 when Almaro County had 105,000 people living within the county to 117,000 people in uptick of 12,000 people in 2020, 24, 12,000 additional people in over a nine-year period. But the commercial base, according to the county executive, is down from 15% in 2015 to 11% in

2025. Make that math math. Make it make sense. Is that math not mathin? Or is that math math mathin for you? I mean, I don't know if it's about the math making sense so much is it about an increase. increasing population, and I mean, what, for how long did we have, you know, there were no, no businesses, or almost no businesses in the Fashion Square Mall. For years, the, what is it, the

Ryo shopping center where Outback Steakhouse currently resides. A lot of that has been empty. So if you're not doing anything to promote business growth in your county, then this is what happens. You end up going from an already low 15% commercial tax burden to 11%, which means that the burden, the word burden means the burden is actually on us, increasingly. Viewers and listeners, your thoughts. John Blair, I'm going to get to your comments in a matter of moments.

Conan Owen will get to your comments in a matter of moments. Deep throat, I'm going to get to your comments in a matter of moments. Print radio and television that's watching this program. You should do a deep dive on this. You should pick up the phone and call the county executive, Jeff Richardson, about this. viewers and listeners Fred Missile works for the UVA Foundation

Scott Smith, a retired businessman, they're running in the Samuel Miller District for the Alamo County Board of Supervisors' empty seat. Jim Andrews is retiring, not going to run again. Missile UVA Foundation is an institution. He's a heavy favorite.

He's a Democrat. Scott Smith, new to the area, a COVID transplant, he's a Republican. The separation point between the Democrat Missile and the Republican Smith, is this? It's this, folks. You throw in a little data science in there, maybe a little land use,

and you have the entree that is the difference between missile and Smith. So this is going to determine an election on a Democrat heavy board. I'm going to ask some questions that I'll open it up to discussion for the viewer and listener to shape the show. How much is the commercial tax base storyline?

The drop from 11% of the commercial tax base 15% of the commercial tax base in 2015 to 11% in 2025. How much is that the collateral damage of COVID and the pandemic? How much the federal government demanding us, ordering us, handcuffing us to be recluses in our house, to basically have agoraphobia and not leave our house. Overstep, federal government, overreach. How much is that tied to the commercial base shrinking? How much of the commercial base shrinking is tied to innovation, technology, artificial intelligence,

and this ubiquitous, robust world we live in where screens and chatGBT and artificial intelligence are now shaping the professional landscape, where businesses now don't have to be tied to a physical address or hang their shingle at a precise location, their business license at a precise location, because we're now digital nomads that are able to work remotely from our phones with JADGBT to do whatever we want, work wherever we want, any time we want, and drive revenue.

And how much is Alamoire County missing because of this digital nomadic ecosystem we find ourselves living and breathing and existing within? goodness gracious juda and i were talking about before the show major league baseball is it the year twenty twenty seven yeah and the year twenty seven major league baseball is going to use robots and artificial intelligence to call balls and strikes behind home plate i mean major league baseball i'm working on a real estate deal with with with someone i

respect tremendously right now. Gone from a professional relationship to, I would say, a friendship. I think he would say the same. And we're spitballing on some branding and logo elements that we're considering. And goodness gracious, he was turning around some mockups for this branding and logo strategy for some office space. And he was using Chad GBT on the logos, turning around immediately, within moments, within seconds. This is the work Judah does. You know, it's funny. The mock-up that we're utilizing is a mock-up created by artificial intelligence that created a mock-up said, this is the font, the font size. It didn't give you a font. We are in the first, inning of this.

You know, the first inning of it. You know, it's funny that you tout a lot of this, but you don't really understand the underlying. Oh, please make your point here. Well, I'm very excited to respond and counter your point. Okay. What a lot of people don't understand is that it is a tool. Chat GPT, all of these AI, large language models, they're tools. tools. If you don't understand that it's a tool, you're going to destroy your company.

Okay. That's the point you make constantly on the show. We're doing some signage with Conan Owen of Sir Speedy of Central Virginia. He's watching the program. Any signage needs. Let's let the viewers and listeners know. Conan Owen, Sir Speedy of Central Virginia, locally owned and operated. Conan Owen is a Darden School graduate. Does the signage for us, doing the signage for us here in the Macklin building are 24 doors. We're working with him in this secondary position that we're looking to expand within on the downtown mall. He's creating signage for

this office model that we're building. We're very excited about bringing potentially a new food and beverage business to downtown Charlottesville. I got a second showing for that opportunity today at 1.30. I got to be off air at 1.30 because the owners are going to come through that door. Hold me

to 1.30. I get about 32 minutes to help them bring a second point of sale to market. Okay. Conan when doing the changes to just our studio, just our studio is able to take photos and that photography he takes of the storefront of our studio, he pumps into artificial intelligence, and that one photo is able to tell him the font,

the size of the font, and what he needs to do to change any branding element we have on this glass and to keep it uniform with what's going to exist, the changes he's going to make, it's not going to be a complete revitalization of our branding, minor changes. But he'll be able to match up those minor changes with what we have by using the tool, you say. It's a tool. I'm able, I'm helping a resale client, a client that's in the resale business, right? This client, I think it's got a pretty good business model. They're doing top line revenue north of $700,000 a year. And their business,

business model is extremely straightforward. They go and find goods, inventory, product, at yard sales, at thrift stores, at estate sales, you name it, and then they resale them online. They don't even have a storefront. We're helping optimize this business model form. They're even thinking about finding investors to help them scale. Their profit margin is obscene. This retail business, the owner-operator, it's one person and a second person. The owner- Owners paying himself north of 300 grand a year, selling afterthought merchandise that he buys for nickels on the dollar and then sells it for multiple dollars through an online website. He's come to me asking for help to help him scale. We're all charge it a consulting fee to do this. He uses his phone, artificial intelligence, to take a picture of what he thinks is valuable. He takes a picture of an item that can be 20 years old, 50 years old, 15. years old, can be weathered, can be cracked, can have water damage, can be in pristine condition, terrible condition. And he takes the photo with his artificial intelligence. And that photo that he

takes then gives him a list of the last 50 sales tied to the product type by model number, by skew number, by brand, where they were sold, eBay, Facebook marketplace, any platform they were sold upon. And then it's able to say, this is what you should price it at based on the condition it is. And he utilizes this artificial intelligence to build a reselling business. Now, Judah's point is correct. We're at the first inning,

pun intended, of artificial intelligence. But goodness gracious, in 2027, which puts us in the third inning, pun intended, Major League Baseball is going to have artificial intelligence calling balls and strikes. In the year, 27, there's going to be artificial intelligence standing behind a catcher. and baseball stadiums all over the world, all over the country.

And this catcher is going to be able to determine if a 102-mile-an-hour fastball is between shoulder height or knee height and a strike zone instantaneously. In an industry that is not millions, hundreds of millions, but multi-billions, multi-billions, and billions, and, revenue each year. Are we in the first setting of artificial intelligence? Yes. Is the technology innovating to the point it's replacing humans? Absolutely. We just gave you an example. Umpires, Major League Baseball, artificial intelligence, no human error. If Major League Baseball is considering that, if the Golden Arches is considering that with cashiers and kioses,

how's that going to impact the creatives of the world how's it going to impact the middle management of the world and what's the impact it has on almorel county and its commercial tax base comments coming in quickly and if you'd like to make a point please do you and I disagreed tremendously on the AI Yeah. Tremendously. And I see your stance because you have to have your stance because your stance is the value proposition of what you provide professionally.

No. I mean, you've got, so you're saying my stance is based on not wanting to lose my job? Your stance is based on the vow prop of what you do professionally, yes. That's because you don't listen. Go ahead. We're listening to learn. Well, you haven't been. But look, When you pass off a, in this case, what, meta-AI, it is a wonderful tool. It helps you find a mock-up that you really like. The problem is it did not give you a font. In fact, there were no fonts involved.

All it's doing is creating the approximation of fonts that it's seen. So, in order to make that mock-up usable, someone like myself has to go and actively look for a similar font and then actually convert that image, that mock-up that Meta-I gave you, and actually put it into a high-resolution logo that can be used not just sending across email or text. text, but actually used on the side of a building, the side of a vehicle. Called vector art. Yeah. It's called vector art. We know print quality artwork, high resolution enough that someone like Conan Owen can bring it to market for signage on a, no, well, own an advertising agency.

How long would it have taken us to come up with the mockup that we ended up settling as the signage for the company? Right. How long would it have taken us? Depends on. how long it took you to be happy. Generally, a day or two. Okay. So what would have been a day or two in human capital and manpower? For those listening, that's not a full day or two of actual work. Oh, but trust me. I've been doing this for 20 years. You've been working here for 15 years.

I'm very well aware of how long the logo mockup process takes. That's the hard part of creating the logo. Once the mockup has been selected, the vector art and executing the mock-up and bringing it to market is the easy-peasy part. Why we're paid $2.95 an hour is to find a mock-up and make it a final product. That's the whole reason we're paid a consulting fee. We had two-day process. Okay, you obviously, you always think it's less, I always think it's more. Sometimes I think it's less. Sometimes you think it's more. It's the song and dance between the employer and the employee. It's always going to be somewhere in the middle. Regardless, we did something in three minutes

that otherwise would have taken us at least 10 plus hours of manpower, if not more. Because it's not just you and the team, it's also me directing the pace and tempo of where we're going. Those are facts that

no one can argue with. And that's in the first inning of AI. The literal first inning of what we're in. The kiosk at the golden arches at the base of Pantan on Freebridge was the first inning. Major League Baseball, 2027, the umpire that's a robot and AI behind the plate,

maybe you call that the third inning. So you're looking forward to the third inning? No, I'm not looking for it to any of this. I'm saying part of the reason the tax base has shrunk in Amarro County is the collateral damage of COVID, the fact that we were told to stay at home, so that changed human behavior in shopping and dining patterns which shrunk the commercial base that dehabilitated if not crippled retail storefronts fashion square mall seminal square almoral square rio hill perfect examples on the route 29 quarter damn near devastated because of the pandemic and shoppers choosing to order online

from big box retailers target walbart and amazon and not patronize brick and mortar in person one of the reasons we've seen is it seminal square or almorel square turning in into an experiential destination with Seville Smash, with Dr. Halpert's Coco's Adventure Central, with Brent Lillard's Jiu-Jitsu Studio. Otherwise, those were retail spots. Then we saw technology boom during that period of time, and we saw consumer behavior never returned to what it was before COVID. This is all collateral damage pandemic. And now the county is saying, we can't make up this tax base. comics coming in

how about number one in the family deep throat he's a data guy he's a stats guy spends more time on data than anyone I know a plus guy he says this to the tax point one thing you may want to consider and it's a guess

he's saying this is a guess is perhaps the residential property values have gone up so sharply in the periods of of 2021 to 24 that the commercial taxes could not keep up with the spike in residential values. He says both residential and commercial went up. It's just that residential went up much faster, which has potentially created that delta or that deficiency and tax burden collection with commercial tied to residential.

He says, however, I haven't seen the underlying numbers. I'm shooting from the hip here. Part of it's that. He's basically saying, good God, people want to live here. And because they want to live here, they made Amar County real estate go bananas. You saw what, we talk about what we did with the Glenmore home. 2020, verse 2020, March purchase, verse 20, 24 June exit, 700 verse 1-2. Everybody saw 40, 50, 60% uptick from beginning or pre-COVID to post-COVID.

Now, the real estate market is softening. ladies and gentlemen. I had this conversation. My wife and I are talking about this left and right. It is softening right now. And is it softening because we're in a flat trajectory, potentially a downward trajectory, or is it softening because buyers who are on the sidelines are waiting until the first and second quarter of next year to jump back into the swimming pool because they're expecting even more rate cuts ahead? Is that why it's softening? A patience gain? Or is it softening because we may be in a market of a flat or declining prices? I think it's buyers are being patient to see what the interest rate environment it looks like in the

first quarter of the second quarter next year. That's my take. John Blair, this guy knows the game. This guy knows Almaro County, the city of Charlottesville and central Virginia like Judah, fill in the blank. Like what? like the pope knows prayer man that's that's my simile the pope knows holy water i say it all the time you've got to come up with your own there like judah knows denim like jerry knows roback like our son knows maniac behavior like my wife knows yoga like downtown charlesville knows the homeless like Citizen Burger Bar knows burgers. John Blair says,

I think the relevant question is this. Can you find a locality comparable to Almaro County in which residential composes less than 25% of local tax revenue? How about less than 20%? How much of Almeral's decline from 15% to 11% is subtraction from the commercial industrial sector versus a quicker appreciation and residential assessments. That's what Deep Throat's saying.

The two best comparables for Al Barrow are Rockingham and Montgomery counties. They have major state universities. They have a high quality of life like Alborough. They have similar land use policies. What are their numbers showing in terms of residential versus commercial and industrial? I don't have those numbers, John. I'd love to have those numbers. He also says this, I'm curious because there are only two people.

jurisdiction to Almaro and Virginia, Rockingham and Montgomery. It's absurd to compare Alamoreau to places like Roanoke or Hanover County. Those places don't have the same demographic wealth levels, land use policies, etc. Make sure you're rotating lower thirds on screen as well.

If you can, please. Curtis Shaver. To Judah's point, and Judah has an H, my friend, Curtis Shaver. Discraft, a major disc golf manufacturer, just got in hot water for releasing a disc stamp that was AI-generated. The person on the stamp had extra fingers and no one checked it. James Watson watching the program, UVA graduate. He says, I think we can all agree we've seen retail and restaurant sectors tend to sputter in Charlottesville in the last decade,

but I am hopeful that all these biotech jobs will provide more potential consumers to make new businesses more prosperous. I've learned over the years in Charlottesville that you can't depend on students to really keep a business vibrant for the most part, but you have to have working adults that have consistent income, so hopefully the biotech and some other investments in the region will turn the tide. James Watson also said, Judah, wait until they install artificial intelligence robots to determine whether or not a running back has made a first down in football. Coden Owen says, his photo on screen. The tax law based on the empty balls, Almaral Square, Seminole Square,

Ryo Hill, even Holly Mead has lots of vacancies. Goodness gracious, how long did Fashion Square mall sit empty? How about the vacancies in Stonefield? Has the Trevinia space been filled yet? At one time, Trevinia was spending nearly $30,000 a month to rent the sexiest restaurant, maybe in Almaro County, next to the movie theater with the outdoor fire pits and the huge dining room and the sexy indoor outdoor bar

nearly 30,000 a month. Trevinia, Judah, still vacant. Still vacant. Who's been to Emmy squared pizza and Barrett's Road shopping center? Anyone? My brother-in-law and my sister-in-law for my birthday this past August, got us a hundred in, I think it was a $100 gift card to Emmy Square. My wife and I went to Emmy Squared pizza. We got a pepperoni pizza, a cheeseburger, and two beers. A pepperoni pizza, cheeseburger, and two beers. What do you think the bill was, Judah Wickauer? One pizza, one burger, and two beers?

got a beer? I got a beer. We got a pepperoni pizza and a cheeseburger. My boys, our boys, our almost three-year-old and our seven-year-old got glasses of water. They ate the cheeseburger. My wife and I had a little bit, they ate the pizza. Our boys ate the pizza. My wife and I split the cheeseburger and had a small slice of pizza. What do you think the bill was for Emmy Square and Barrack's Road Shopping Center? I'd guess 45 before tax. After tax and tip,

the bill was $100. Tax and tip, the bill was $100. You're talking an $8 beer, $8 plus $8, $16 in beers. You're talking a $23 burger. $23 burger is the norm. No, it's not. Citizen Burger bar right next to us is $23 for a burger.

I got to look this. up. Yeah. It's nuts. I can find it right now. Citizen Burger Bar. Probably what? The number one

top line revenue restaurant in downtown Charlottesville is Citizen? Citizen Burger Bar. Let's see what it is. I'm on the menu page. Click for our menu. I'm on the menu page right now. I'm going to go to Citizen

as it loads. Citizen Burger is You have the executive, which is 28. You have the steakhouse, which is 18. You have the southern, which is 18, a 17 and a 16. So your entry point, the American Classic, is a $16, all the way to a $28 burger. The executive is not a normal burger, though.

The entry point on the burger is 16. 16 to 18 with $1.28 burger. At a business district in downtown Charlottesville, where the rents are half, of what the rents are at Barrett's Road Shopping Center, which is owned by publicly traded federal realty. Highest rent structure Barrett's Road Shopping Center, downtown mall, half the rent of what Barrett's Road Shopping Center is. A pizza, two beers, and a burger. Tax and tip, $100. $100.

Insane. How was that gift card sent us? We didn't have to go in to get the gift card. We didn't have to speak to anyone to get the gift card. That gift card was sent to us through some kind of AI and a text message to my phone. Vanessa Park Hill, that Trevinias space is still vacant. Yes, ma'am, it is.

Of Earlysville. At Janice Boyce Trevillian, I have seen the Will Smith movies. She says, no good could come from the artificial intelligence. Oh, there's no doubt in my mind about that. Will Smith movies? She's talking about when the technology takes over the world. Conan Owen. Sir Speedy, he says, I'm feeling it.

Business is booming. Yes, business is closed, but I'm seeing lots of growth and expansion. And new businesses all the time in Seville should be better than the national average, which means tax revenue should be higher. The region needs to take a deep look at to why. they are lagging. The interesting thing about Sir Speedy is Sir Speedy with closings of businesses.

That's actually a tailwind for their business. When businesses locally close, Sir Speedy gets business because they have to redo signage and branding. Stickers and lanyards, nave tags and

uniforms, menus and trifolds, direct mail, merch. Albert Gray. is watching the program, his photo on screen, Judah. Actually, Major League Baseball will implement a ball strike challenge system starting in 2026 with each

team getting two challenges per game. Not every ball and strike will be called by AI that will still be done by the umpire. The AI will call ball and strike in the event of a challenge coming from the catcher. Read what you mentioned, Judah, in 2027 with the artificial intelligence. Read what you

brought up to us in 2027 with the artificial intelligence. and major league baseball let's see you've got you've got the hold on let me find the article

robot umpires coming to major league baseball with ABS challenge system already approved for 2026 major league baseball which has ventured out of its comfort zone the past few years years, implementing pitch clocks, ghost runners, enlarged bases, and a universal designated hitter

now is taking the next huge step in the world of modern technology. M.OB is adopting an automated strike zone challenge system that will go into effect for the 2026 season. I was deep throat. I was equally astonished with how expensive. Emmy squared pizza was. And the pizza was phenomenal, but it was extremely small. Extremely small. It is literally up to us to support

locally owned and operated businesses if we want to see them survive. And one that I absolutely love is Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, Judah. 61 consecutive years in business online at charlesfulsanitary supply.com. Andrew and John Vermillion are honest, communicative, trustworthy, men of

integrity. If you need a vacuum repaired, they have a mechanic on site. If you need a pool cleaning robot repaired, they have a mechanic on site. If your pool is murky in color, the chlorine, the water needs to be tested, they have water technicians on site. Anything sanitary related, they are the place you call free delivery in the market and an e-commerce store at charlesville sanitary supply.com. These guys are the best, the absolute, absolute best. And we talk about the population upticking and print radio and television that's watching this program. You should be covering these storylines.

Take the content we're covering right now, print radio and television. And you don't even need to credit us. You don't when you write about it, but just get it out to the public. because we deserve to know these storylines. This comes in via Facebook message. Please keep my name out of this. This is a manipulated stat when you think about it.

Of course, the prorated percentage of business commercial will drop when real estate has more than doubled in the last nine-year stretch. This is a reference to deep throat as well. Plus, as you often point out, the newcomers are wealthy and don't spend all our funds in the local economy when most of us are traveling a lot. A new household, 100% of real estate tax stays here, but not 100% of business tax stays here.

I think this isn't really a headline. The main question is how the aggregate tax revenue is being spent. Eli Lilly, that headline on screen? $5 billion in Goochland County, 650 new jobs to the area. AstraZeneca, also billions of dollars spent in Almaro County. We'll know the exact number soon. Hundreds of new jobs created.

With Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, you're probably looking at somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 new jobs created. Those 1,000 and 2,000 new jobs created by AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly alone, most of those transplants to the area. Work the studio camera in if you can so they can see some fantastic branding on screen. That 1,000 to 2,000 new jobs

these are new to the area folks that do not have the same ties to our community. I've been here 25 years. How long have you been here, Judah? On and off. Not too different from that, around 25? 25 years I've been here.

The commitment to local, goodness gracious. It's what we stand for. Is that same commitment going to be present with 2,000 incremental people, you know, well-paid jobs? Most of them at well-paid jobs, only time will tell. Or are those transplants to the area have the shopping and human behavior tied to doorstop delivery and Fortune 50 companies. Only time will tell.

And I'll close with this because I've got a client coming in T-minus four and a half minutes. And I want to roll out the red carpet for her. Friday night, tomorrow night, on national television, a top 10 football team hit Scott Stadium. And they arrive in Charlottesville as a six-and-a-half-point favorite, according to Las Vegas. This Virginia football team is playing its most significant football contest and probably a generation. Yes, I know they played for an ACC championship, and yes, I know they played in the Orange Bowl. no one expected Virginia to beat Clemson in the ACC Championship

and no one expected Virginia to beat Florida in the Orange Bowl and neither of those two games were at Scott Stadium. This is the most significant football game that Virginia football has played in probably a generation. If this football team shocks the nation tomorrow night and it's a huge if, I'm not saying it's going to happen, it's a huge if, you have injury at offensive line, you have question marks on defense.

But if they shock the nation, ladies and gentlemen, you are talking a storyline that will command national attention, a storyline that will drive economic vitality, a storyline that will drive butts in the seats at Scott Stadium for the remaining home football games, which would further drive economic vitality, a storyline that's going to drive socioeconomic change, people fall in love with Charlottesville,

through any University of Virginia, offshoot or vertical. Get ready, and giddy up. On tomorrow, tomorrow at 10.15 a.m., Keith Smith's in the house for real talk with Keith Smith. Then we close the program and the week down with the I Love Seville Show at 1230.

There's no other platform that's giving you this. Thank you for joining us. Judah Wickhauer, yours truly, Jerry Miller. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.